


WAKE UP

by mahkent



Category: Everyman HYBRID
Genre: Gen, mentions of cannibalism, mentions of child death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:22:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15675186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mahkent/pseuds/mahkent
Summary: I can remember my baby. I can remember her crying. I can remember her bones, against my teeth.





	WAKE UP

**Author's Note:**

> _vivid_ descriptions of cannibalism and child death.

Vinny watched WAKE UP, when it was first uploaded. He saw the thumbnail, Evan's arms and the tell-tale sign of that skull-and-bones shirt, clicked on it and watched without thinking about how HABIT probably edited and uploaded it. 

Evan, waking up. Alarmed, frightened, moving around like a cornered animal. The doors locked, the camera on- he remembers. Vinny can only watch as the video ticks on and on, marching forward through Evan's breakdown condensed by HABIT into silent wailing. Evan, sitting in front of a door, face a stone mask. _I can remember_ , he says with a voice haunted by countless deaths, _Jeff. I can... remember him begging._ A shaky breath, voice wavering. _I can remember Steph, I can remember her crying._ Evan, looking so small in video, shadows casting his face into darkness, shifts and Vinny can tell he's becoming more agitated. 

The next part, Vinny can't forget. He won't think about it either, though. _I can remember my baby. I can remember her crying. I can remember her bones, against my teeth._ He has to pause the video there. Evan's still, for once, the video halted on his morose expression. Eyes averted, so far away. Remembering something he didn't do but was forced to experience. 

Vinny hates HABIT even more, just for that. He hates that Evan was locked in his head as Jeff was slaughtered, Steph was slaughtered, but he hates the most that Evan had to feel his baby dying under his teeth. Had to taste it, probably, the flesh that hadn't seen anything but love and affection. Especially from Evan- Vinny'd never seem Evan so happy as when he held his baby. It's the first time he'd seen Evan cry from joy, when he looked down at her, new and innocent.

Then HABIT tore the joy from Evan. Evan's broken expression when talking about his baby in the video. How now that HABIT's letting Evan be alone in his own head for upwards of a week at a time, Evan doesn't talk about anything personal. Vinny hasn't found anything out from Evan himself, only the videos HABIT uploaded of him.

Eventually Vinny decides to ask. Gently, trying not to make Evan any more agitated than he usually is. The question doesn't make Evan panic. He doesn't react at all first, actually, just staring blankly at Vinny with his dead eyes. The silence stretches with Evan's dark eyes boring into him. The slightest twice of Evan's jaw muscle makes Vinny think he might have fucked up- 

Vinny knows he's fucked up when Evan lunges at him, small frame making the raw power behind his movements so much more surprising. His strong arms that were only strengthened by HABIT in the past years push Vinny down flat on the couch they're both on. He lowers himself over Vinny, an animal leaning over its prey- 

Evan's eyes are wild, locked on him still. He's breathing heavily and his face is only inches from Vinny's, teeth bared in a show of primal rage; he doesn't start speaking until Vinny's started pleading _Evan, Evan, calm down, please-_. His voice is rough and oh so quiet against the pounding of Vinny's heart in his ears. 

"I remember," Evan begins, muscles beginning to quiver with the rage he's suppressing, "my baby. She was so, so gentle, so wonderful. _It_ held her in his arms and she reached up because she thought it was her daddy behind my eyes. It put her down on the table-" Evan's voice cracks. This close Vinny can see every tear in his eyes, see how he blinks furiously to make them go away. 

"It put her on the table and started with her fingers. Her left hand. We thought she was left handed because she kept grabbing at us with it more than her right." The tears in his eyes have begun hanging on his lashes, a few dripping into Vinny's face from how Evan's positioned over him. His knees have settled on either side of Vinny's hips, and those strong hands are pressed solidly into his shoulders. "Do you know how it feels to have your teeth slice through your baby's skin?" A pause, silent but for Vinny's shaky breathing, before Evan roars, " _DO YOU?!_ "

"N-no, Evan," Vinny's voice shakes. Evan is still the epitome of grief, rage evident at how he had no control. One hand lifts to smack against Vinny's chest with a bit more force than necessary.

"It just bit them off, Vinny, all of her fingers and then her arm and she was _crying_ , she had just learned how to say 'dada' and she kept yelling that at me, at it-" Evan's speech has quickly devolved into rambling. Crying openly now, he smacks Vinny's chest a few more times with weak blows, dropping his head to where their foreheads are touching. Vinny's open eyes see that Evan's shut his own tight as his lips pull away from his teeth and he keeps talking. "It kept eating her. It was like- it was like I had woken up and couldn't move, it let me feel everything and I had sensation of all of it but I couldn't move my muscles- I couldn't _help_ her, Vinny! What kind of- of father can't help his baby when she's-" Suddenly he cuts himself off, curling into himself. Both hands lift to his head as he sits back and _screams_ , enraged and terrified and oh so broken. 

Slowly as to not startle Evan, Vinny sits up. He reaches out to pull Evan closer to him, chests pressed against the others, Vinny's arms wrapped tight around Evan. One hand he buries into Evan's long, soft hair, the other he uses to rub Evan's back as he sobs. He hasn't seen Evan honestly cry in... forever, it feels like. He didn't even think Evan was the type to cry like this, but with everything that's happened to them he's learning that nothing can be expected anymore. 

"Ev, man- you didn't do it. He may have made you feel it but you didn't do it. You wanted to help her, right?" A pause to let Evan reply. His eyes are still shut, but he nods slowly, nostrils flaring as he breathes out. Vinny lowers his head to press his nose, press his lips into that soft hair. Evan’s chest is strong against Vinny’s, dense muscle and hard bone against Vinny’s soft chest. Even as he cries, Evan doesn't seem _weak_ , really. He's still so strong and raw and animal.

Evan’s body so tense finally relaxes after what felt like ages. Slack against Vinny’s body, Evan is comfortably warm. At some point, Vinny notices, Evan has pressed his nose into the soft skin bridging between Vinny’s neck and shoulder. It's comfortable, this. Evan’s basically sitting on him, breath warm against his skin, and despite the breakdown they're both relaxed. Vinny’s more than content to cradle his friend in his arms. Despite the muscle Evan’s stature makes him seem so small in Vinny’s grasp. 

Evan falls asleep that way. Vinny doesn’t have the heart to wake him, not when Evan’s finally relaxed despite the skeletons in his closet and the corpses under his bed, despite the blood on his teeth.

**Author's Note:**

> i've been writing this for a while and while i definitely _could_ have altered it to fit into dog verse, it didn't feel right. it didn't add much and if anything actually made it more confusing than need be.
> 
> anyway, WAKE UP is one of my favorite videos in all of everymanHYBRID because its so viscerally emotional. evan does a fucking stellar job making the emotion feel _real_. also, isn't it fucked up that HABIT _ate evan's child while using evan's body_? like, holy shit, right?
> 
> also one of the reasons that, despite how fun HABIT is to watch and how integral it is to EMH's plot, i don't feature it heavily in my fics. i probably won't, ever. it's disgusting. i believe at some point it mentions working for _the nazis_ and, even if that isn't true, it still killed jeff, steph, the baby, has abused vinny so fully that vinny gave up entirely enough to _kill himself_ , etcetera etcetera. long story short: HABIT is literally irredeemable, and despite being a fun and well-written villain it's still a villain, y'know?


End file.
